RF devices continue to be highly integrated with multiple bands, multiple standards and often with greater than 20 RF ports on a single device. The current time required to match such devices using the traditional manual approach can be two or three weeks. Combine this with today's massive parallel test capabilities of ATE (×4, ×8, and even ×16) and the time required to properly match ˜80+ RF ports across multiple sites can easily surpass several weeks.
RF matching has largely remained unchanged for the past several decades. The engineer typically employs an iterative, manual, time-intensive approach of placing and removing various LC components onto the load board. After each iteration a VNA is employed to measure the new match. This process repeats until the best match (typically as close to 50 Ohms) is found. This method is completely incapable of scaling to meet the needs of the modern industrial manufacturing processes.
Thus there exists a need for next-generation automated high-speed testing. There exists a need for technology that delivers unprecedented test time and test cost reductions.